The Art of Dancing
by deadlynerd
Summary: Laura Hollis is eligible to attend the Yule Ball with a partner of her choosing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a three-part work set in the same universe as my other fic "Just a Stupid Love potion."**

**I hope you guys all enjoy it :) **

Laura Hollis was eagerly awaiting the Yule Ball. And at the same time, dreading it.

Yes, Laura Hollis was a Hufflepuff conflicted, both joy and fear warring within her in spiralling storm, and she hated it, _hated it _because she has never dealt well with inner turmoil.

Hogwarts was having a Yule Ball in honour of the Tournament currently taking place and as a fourth year, Laura was eligible to attend with a partner of her choosing.

And the problem remained of which partner she would choose to accompany her. Or whether she would have a partner at all.

Of course, she wanted to ask Carmilla, but the problem was that she just didn't know what she was to the Slytherin, and it worried her.

Ever since the love potion debacle, they'd definitely moved on to 'more than friends,' but Laura now wanted something solid, something real, something she could hold onto.

The two had been keeping their 'relationship' under wraps, Laura fearing disapproval from Perry and Danny.

(She could hear Danny's outraged "really Laura? Carmilla?" and Perry's "Really honey? Is she safe?" echoing in her thoughts, and she hated how insecure she could be.)

And the stupid thing was that she didn't even have a proper, concrete _relationship _to be hiding. For all she knew it was just a fling.

They'd done more kissing than talking over the past few weeks and whilst Laura thought that there was nothing more magical than making out with Carmilla Karnstein- they really did need to talk.

So absorbed was Laura in her monologue about the pros and cons of asking Carmilla to go to the dance with her, that she forgot to watch where she was going and promptly bumped right into the object of her affections.

"Really cutie?" Carmilla drawled, grasping Laura's arms and steadying her so she didn't fall. "Do you ever look where you're going? Or did you just need an excuse to touch me?" At this, she raised an annoyingly perfect brow.

Laura glared back, and then realising that she could not trust herself to speak to Carmilla right now without blurting something along the lines of "wanagoballwithme?" she backed away hastily.

Carmilla looked concerned- and then hastily wiped the expression from her face.

The two of them looked at each other for a while in mutual confusion, before a burly Ravenclaw boy brushed past both of them rudely and coughed out: "Get a room."

Carmilla and Laura jumped, and realising that they were in the middle of a crowded hallway, the two of them hastened to find an empty corridor (preferably one without three-headed dogs or manticores. Laura's had some bad experiences with Hogwarts hallways.)

Carmilla turned back to Laura once they were alone, something heavy in her eyes. And of course, seeing the look on the Slytherin's face, Laura began to panic, her brain short-circuiting.

_Oh God she's going to kiss me in a corridor, wannagoballwithme, ahh she's so pretty- her eyes are like melted chocolate and I really love chocolate and wannagoballwithe…._

Laura was so overwhelmed that her brain decided to blurt out the very thing she was hoping to avoid saying.

"Wannagoballwithme?"

Carmilla was completely nonplussed and looked around for hidden Slytherins, waiting to jump out and start teasing her mercilessly, because surely this was some sort of elaborate prank? And then she realised, that in all likelihood it was just Laura being Laura.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that, cupcake? Was that your imitation of an ape?"

Laura clenched her jaw and articulates slowly.

"Do you want to go to the ball with me?"

It's probably the angriest invitation to a dance anyone had ever been given, but Laura didn't care because _oh Lord _Carmilla was actually smiling at her, _smiling, _so she surely must have done something right!

But Carmilla still didn't reply, just kept smiling at the tiny Hufflepuff.

(Carmilla Karnstein, _smiling?!) _

And so of course Laura began to panic.

"Um…but I mean if you don't want something as official as this, I mean we don't have to like go together, umm we can just go as friends? But I mean I'm cool with whatever because-"

"Cupcake." Carmilla murmured in an exasperated, long-suffering tone.

Laura jumped and squeaked, because she had not noticed how close Carmilla had gotten to her.

"Of course I want to go to the ball with you."

"Um, whoa, okay…" Whilst Laura had spent a lot of time envisioning scenarios as to how Carmilla would react to the invitation, being with her _alone_ in a corridor whilst the dark-haired girl _smiled _at her, had not been one of them.

(No, it had been more along the lines of Carmilla dumping her and never speaking to her again because she was becoming "too clingy.")

But then her stupid mouth decided to make the situation worst and she began to stammer out.

"B-but I mean, this doesn't need to mean anything, I mean we don't need to be 'girlfriends' after the Ball or anything, I mean I just think that-"

Carmilla interrupted again, and it was a sign of how much Laura liked Carmilla that she didn't explode at her. (She hated being interrupted when she's on a tirade. Though to be fair, the way that she was rambling today, she was _grateful _to be interrupted, lest she embarrass herself further.)

"Cutie. I thought we were already girlfriends? Didn't I make that pretty clear the other day, when my mouth was-"

"-so you actually _like _like me."

Laura was shocked. She knew she could be oblivious sometimes, but everything she knew, or thought she knew about the mystery that was Carmilla Karnstein had told her the sad truth- that she was just another notch on the Slytherin's belt.

Never had she been so happy to be proven wrong.

"Laura. My tongue has been in your mouth. Yes- I like you." Carmilla rolled her eyes heavenward.

"So you weren't just…

(Laura lowered her voice and waggled her eyebrows in a somewhat successful imitation of Carmilla as she spoke.)

"…getting it on with the naïve, provincial girl because 'that's just the way the world works?"

Carmilla was unimpressed to say the least.

"I don't sound anything like that, cutie."

"You kind of do."

"No. I really don't." Carmilla pouted at Laura, and she looked so adorable, yes the scary Slytherin looked _adorable _and so Laura closed the distance between them and leant up slightly to press her lips against Carmilla's.

(It was meant to be a chaste kiss, but the Slytherin can just be so irresistible that the two ended up losing themselves in each other, Carmilla threading her hands in Laura's hair and biting softly on her lip, Laura smiling like an idiot as they kiss, and kiss again, unable to stop, caught in a mutual addiction of affection.)

"So you'll go to the dance, then?" Laura used an iron will to pull away from the kiss. She had to ask again, _just _in case she somehow misheard the first time.

"Yes cutie, I'll go to the Ball with you."

Laura allowed herself to hope then, because she was going to the Ball with her (now) official _girlfriend. _

And she'd get to see Carmilla wearing a dress.

Yes, Laura Hollis had been a Hufflepuff conflicted. But Carmilla seemed to have a remarkable way of resolving Laura's conflicts.

And so now, Laura Hollis can hardly wait to attend the Yule Ball.

She knew that it would be a night to remember.


	2. Chapter 2

"So you're telling me creampuff, that you asked me to a dance…when you don't know how to dance?"

"Um…yeah that's about the gist of it."

Carmilla rolled her eyes heavenward, long-suffering. Why she put up with Laura, she really didn't know.

(She knew. It's because Laura was one of the few people she really connected with, one of the few people she actually _liked_.)

Laura was giving Carmilla desperate puppy-dog eyes and whilst Carmilla liked to think herself immune to such looks, the truth was she was completely whipped.

And so she drew in a long, deep breath and exhaled loudly through her nose, knowing that she was going to regret her next comment.

"Well…unless you want private tuition from Professor Longbottom…"

At this Laura's face turned thoughtful and Carmilla rolled her eyes once more.

"…I guess I could teach your cupcake."

Laura, who had just taken a sip of pumpkin juice sprayed it out onto an extremely disgruntled Carmilla.

The Slytherin glared, but did not explode at Laura- surely a sign of just how much Carmilla liked the small Hufflepuff, as she slowly wiped off the droplets of juice with a napkin.

"Oh, oh my god! You can dance? Of course you can, you can do everything! Ahh when can you teach me? This is so exciting Carm and it's going to be-"

Laura didn't even notice Carmilla's bedraggled state, didn't even notice her dabbing at her now faintly orange shirt, so absorbed is she in her ramble.

The experience of being with Laura over the past few weeks had taught Carmilla that when Laura went on a ramble, it was often best to let it die off by itself.

She noticed a few Slytherins on their table smirking at the sight of the enthusiastic pumpkin-spraying Hufflepuff at their table in the Great Hall and she grinned back, because that little Hufflepuff was her _girlfriend. _

She tuned back in when Laura's frantic flurry of words began to slow slightly.

"And…and I think this Ball is going to be really fun for the both of us Carm, and we should have dancing lessons at least once a week…until…OH do I need special shoes? Because I was reading this article…"

"Cupcake." Carmilla decided to intervene, Laura showing no signs of stopping her rant on the benefits of enchanting your shoes to dance for you. "When do you want to start?"

Laura stopped her ramble and widened her brown eyes at Carmilla in a way that made the Slytherin's heart skip a beat.

(Yep, Carmilla was definitely in denial about just how whipped she was over the tiny Hufflepuff.)

Laura began to blink rapidly, so rapidly that Carmilla started forward in concern, afraid that Laura was having some sort of attack.

But she stopped blinking and started stuttering in a way that was so adorable that the Slytherin could actually feel herself _smiling. _Carmilla Karnstein, Mistress of the Snark, smiling.

To cover it up she hastily muttered:

"I have to get to Charms cutie. But after Transfiguration, we'll find an empty classroom where we can practise, okay?"

Laura nodded, having managed to calm her erratic blinking.

"Thanks so much Carm, best g-girlfriend ever."

"I know." Carmilla leant down and kissed Laura fully on the mouth- and this wasn't a friendly goodbye kiss either.

She could feel herself melting into Laura, losing herself and losing track of where she was, as she gently cupped the Hufflepuff's face, so that she could bring her even closer to her and surely this was magic- nothing was as magical as the taste of Laura, even if she did taste of pumpkin juice, because she really liked her, because she never wanted to stop-

And then a distant corner of her brain began to mumble _stop letting people see you like this, stop letting people see you with your guard down, STOP! _

So she pulled away, regretfully, emerging from the kiss to face the applause of the Slytherins at the table.

Taking an overly dramatic bow, Carmilla winked at Laura and picked up her Charms book.

"I'll see you in Transfiguration, creampuff."

/

Carmilla could barely keep her eyes off Laura for the entirety of Transfiguration.

So absorbed was she in watching the Hufflepuff beside her, that she paid no attention to the frog she was supposed to be turning into a toad.

That is, not until she accidently poked it while watching Laura tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and the angry frog (yes, it was unfortunately still a frog) leapt at her chest.

Adding slime to the weird stains she now had on her school shirt.

Laura, had somehow managed not to laugh and was now looking at Carmilla with concern.

Frowning threateningly at the frog, Carmilla poked it.

It swelled.

"Ms Karnstein."

Carmilla started and looked up guiltily to find Professor McGonagall watching her with an extremely tart expression, a greying eyebrow raised in distaste.

Carmilla hastily apologised, shrinking her frog as she resumed trying to turn it into a toad.

(She's successful only at the end of the lesson, a very grumpy toad bulging in front of her. Laura can be very distracting.)

/

"Ok, place your hands on my waist cutie."

"What?" Laura squeaked, as if Carmilla was asking her to hurt an adorable, fluffy, baby animal.

Carmilla rolled her eyes heavenward for the umpteenth time that day, because this was really getting ridiculous.

It was true that the two had done little more than kiss, but surely, _surely _kissing was a little more intimate then putting your hand on someone's waist?

But Carmilla had long since given up on trying to understand the workings of Laura's mind and so she refrained from comment, as Laura eventually psyched herself up enough to draw close to Carmilla.

The Hufflepuff smiled shyly, and Carmilla's heart did that annoying 'skip a beat in a concerning way that probably means you should visit the Hospital Wing' thing.

Laura placed her hand on Carmilla's waist and Carmilla suddenly understood why Laura was so nervous, because every nerve came alive with the feeling of that small hand on her waist, because _oh Lord _it was Laura Hollis who was touching her.

Clearing her throat, Carmilla croaked out:

"Ok, I'll lead."

She entwined their hands together and avoided eye contact with Laura, fearful that if she so much at looked at the smaller girl, she would explode.

Having forgotten to bring her radio in her post-Transfiguration Laura daze, Carmilla began to hum a Weird Sisters song under her breath.

She twirled Laura towards her and away from her in a slow waltz, before her arms, acting entirely of their own accord, decided to draw Laura in uncomfortably close.

Carmilla stopped humming abruptly, her eyes fixated on Laura's lips.

_Pull yourself together Carmilla, what is wrong with you today? Don't come undone now, just teach her how to dance! _One part of her brain whined at her like an annoying mosquito as she remained frozen.

_Oh MY GOD! LAURA'S LIPS! _A much, much more aggressive part of her yelled.

Aware that these 'parts of her' should probably be in therapy, Carmilla decided to take the advice of the louder one, and so she closed the gap between herself and Laura to kiss her passionately once more.

And once more, she came completely undone in Laura. Her walls were utterly destroyed- Carmilla usually valued her dignity and composure above all else, but _goddamn _around Laura she just didn't care, she didn't care, because nothing was more perfect than the feeling of Laura's lips on her own, the feeling of Laura's hands on her waist, nothing better than the silkiness of Laura's hair as she ran her hands through it…

When both of them eventually stopped for air, Carmilla rested her forehead on Laura's.

"Creampuff. I think you're going to be amazing at this dance." She whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Definitely." And Carmilla smiled that open, happy smile at Laura because _she didn't care _about anything but the little Hufflepuff.

/

And despite Laura's many concerns about her dancing, the two did not get much practice done that night.

Well, they got practice for _something, _but dancing definitely wasn't it.


	3. Chapter 3

Carmilla had been waiting for Laura at the bottom of the stairs outside the Great Hall for over ten minutes, and she was beginning to get nervous.

She was wearing a cobalt blue gown that drifted gently down her and had spent the last hour ensuring her hair was perfectly curled, her eyeliner perfectly even. She'd enchanted her shoes so that although they were actually high heels, they felt like flats.

(She'd been quite proud of that little innovation, actually. It would make dancing a hell of a lot easier, and her feet less sore.)

In short, she'd put a lot of effort into her appearance, and she was nervous as to what Laura would think of her.

And she was worried that Laura would freak out and decide not to even come to the entrance hall outside the Ball.

Because where was the tiny Hufflepuff?

Carmilla shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore all the curious stares she was getting from her classmates.

To pass the time, she took out her wand and pointed it at a nearby freckled, red-headed Gryffindor in frilly robes. Probably a Weasley descendent.

Just as she was about to mutter an incantation to burn off some of those atrocious robes, she felt a light tap on her shoulder and spun around hastily, stowing her wand behind her back to find…Laura.

"Creampuff. Don't you look like a virgin sacrifice." Carmilla drawled, hardly missing a beat.

(She was in fact, overwhelmed by Laura's appearance and trying to distract herself. The Hufflepuff was dressed in a short, white sleeveless dress that exposed _a lot _of skin after all, and there's only so much a girl could take.)

"Hey. If anyone tries to sacrifice me tonight, I'll hex them into toads. Just like we've been learning in Transfiguration." Laura glared around the room, daring anyone to try anything. And then her eyes snapped back to Carmilla, raking up and down her body. "And you look…umm…wow by the way."

Carmilla smirked, biting her lip slightly and then offering Laura her arm.

"Shall we?"

/

Laura could hardly believe how amazing Carmilla looked. Of course, the Slytherin always looked amazing, but seeing her in clothes other than robes of green and silver? She was utterly breathtaking.

She looked like royalty, like a Countess from a Gothic Ball, so elegant was she in that gown. And God she was beautiful, Carmilla with her dark curls and pale skin and brown, soulful eyes that sometimes looked at Laura with such an openness that she couldn't help but think…

…Laura looked down at herself subconsciously.

How was it, that Carmilla actually _like _liked her? It still didn't any make sense to her.

Sometimes she had the urge to pinch Carmilla just to make sure she was real (and not just the wishful thinking of her desperate mind) but she had a strong suspicion that the Slytherin would not like that at all.

Her ruminations were interrupted by a soft voice at her elbow.

"May I have this dance cupcake?"

Carmilla extended an elegant hand to Laura and affected a mock posh voice as the two entered the ballroom.

"I would very much like to dance with you m'lady." Laura replied in a terrible Cockney accent, delighted at seeing this dorky, happy side of Carmilla.

Carmilla raised an eyebrow and reached forward to intertwine their hands together as she pulled Laura closer to her in a slow dance, much like how they'd practised.

"Did you seriously just say m'lady?" she said, as she gently spun Laura around her.

"Just ignore me."

"Oh creampuff. No one could ignore you…not with you looking so…"

At this Carmilla leant even closer to Laura and whispered in her ear:

"…ravishing."

"Hey you have a problem with 'm'lady' but just used 'ravishing' in a sentence like some eighteenth century knight?"

"Laura I swear to God…"

And then Carmilla kissed Laura, right there on the dance floor as they spun around in slow circles.

Laura was dizzy- both from the spinning and the kissing. Laura and Carmilla both got more and more desperate as they touched, resulting in noses bumping, teeth scraping in chaotic harmony. Carmilla's hand gently stroked Laura's cheek as she leant into her and both felt that there could be nothing more right, more perfect in the world.

And then, overwhelmed by the kiss, Laura tripped over her own feet and down, down she went- but Carmilla caught her and dipped her down into another quick kiss.

"Wow."

Carmilla merely smiled shyly at Laura, pulling her out of the dip and back into a slow dance.

Unfortunately, the music changed and rapidly became more upbeat. People began to crowd and mosh around them and Laura could see Carmilla rapidly getting annoyed.

"Cutie. I'm not a big fan of this senseless grinding thing."

Laura bounced along to the Weird Sisters and rolled her eyes at Carmilla as she took her hand.

"Oh c'mon Carm. Just let go for once, no one cares if you're not the badass Slytherin you usually are!"

/

Carmilla couldn't believe that Laura had convinced her to bounce senselessly up and down to a terrible wizarding song with lyrics such as "I'll boil your toadie" and "hop into my sweet cauldron."

Honestly, it was awful.

But it was also an awful lot of fun as she pressed up close against Laura and moved as one with her, jumping up and down and screaming, screaming without a care in the world.

(Carmilla didn't even care that she was screaming along to Cauldron of Love at this point, she was having far too much fun with Laura.)

She began to dance behind Laura, as she let her hands wander over Laura's hips, pressing open mouthed kisses to Laura's neck. Laura turned to Carmilla to kiss her, kiss her in amidst a heave of sweating bodies and even though they're clumsy with the chaos that is the dance floor, neither cared. They could kiss at anywhere, anytime and it would be no less perfect.

Unfortunately however, oxygen is required by both parties and both eventually needed a break from kissing and jumping, and so Carmilla wandered off to find some Butterbeer for Laura.

Laura waited anxiously for Carmilla to return, flushed and exhausted from all the dancing.

She slumped deeper into her seat, as she realised suddenly that Carmilla and herself had been openly making out in the middle of the dance floor. What would her teachers think of her? Who amongst her classmates had seen that little spectacle? _Oh God…_She hoped Danny hadn't seen…

Unfortunately, LaFontaine definitely had.

As she sat, waiting for Carmilla she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find LaFontaine and Perry staring at her, both of them grinning and clearly flushed from dancing. And both of them holding hands.

"Dude." LaF gasped. "You _did not _tell me that you and Carmilla were a thing."

As predicted, Perry had a motherly look of concern on her face at the mention of Carmilla.

"Really Laura? Is she safe?"

Laura merely rolled her eyes, sick of Perry warning her to stay away from Slytherins, sick of LaFontaine's constant teasing.

"C'mon guys, not all Slytherins are evil you know. That's an archaic, close-minded way of thinking and we should move beyond it! You should stop enforcing stereotypes."

LaFontaine chuckled, enjoying riling up Laura.

"L, she is a walking Slytherin stereotype."

"No she isn't! She's beautiful and kind and makes me hot chocolat- and she would kill me if I told anyone that so please don't say anything."

Laura looked around guiltily, and at that very moment Carmilla returned, clutching two Butterbeers.

"We were just talking about you Carmilla." LaFontaine smirked guilelessly at her, brushing their red hair of their forehead and affixing an innocent look on their face.

"Good things, I hope." As always, Carmilla was totally disinterested in people other than Laura. "Anyway cupcake, I was wondering if you wanted to go check out the fairies in the bushes with me. I bet I can jinx at least ten."

"Huh, I bet I could jinx fifte- I mean Carm! No jinxing fairies! But yeah, I'll go with you. I'll see you guys later?"

Perry smiled and nodded encouragingly at them as Laura waved a goodbye, whereas LaFontaine merely guffawed and choked out:

"Use protection."

Laura was confused to say the least. Bush fairies really weren't aggressive so protection really wasn't necessary.

LaFontaine could be so odd sometimes. But that was why Laura loved them.

/

Laura spotted a bush filled with fairies and eagerly pointed it out to Carmilla.

"So how many do you think I can hit with _Stupefy?" _Laura said eagerly.

Carmilla chuckled and brushed a strand of hair off Laura's face. Laura Hollis had never looked as amazing as she did to Carmilla Karnstein then, gently illuminated by sparkling fairy light.

"Creampuff. I love you."

"So you're betting about twent- Wait, what?"

"I love you."

"Are you _sure?"_

That had not been the response Carmilla had expected. Clichés had taught her that people generally had some sort of profound emotional response in this circumstance.

She certainly hadn't expected cynicism to her confession of love. But of course, this was Laura Hollis, Carmilla reminded herself. One had to learn to expect the unexpected.

And so she sighed deeply.

"Yes. I'm sure. I love you."

"Wow okay then. I love you too you stupid Slytherin!"

"Hm, stupid Slytherin, way to make me feel loved…"

But Carmilla did feel loved then, interwoven between fairy lights, under the moonlight- hand in hand with the tiny Hufflepuff, the girl that she loved.


End file.
